Jonathan Swift Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• Argument is the worst sort of conversation.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wisdom, Communication, Opinion

  Jonathan Swift (1998). “The Sayings of Jonathan Swift”, p.21, Gerald Duckworth & Co

  17 Copy quote

• There were many times my pants were so thin I could sit on a dime and tell if it was heads or tails.

  Jonathan Swift

  Funny, Life, Money

  15 Copy quote

• I'm as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth.

  Jonathan Swift

  Tongue, Teeth, Littles

  Jonathan Swift (1856). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers, Not Hitherto Published ... With Memoir of the Author”, p.336

  13 Copy quote

• Nothing is so great an example of bad manners as flattery. If you flatter all the company, you please none; If you flatter only one or two, you offend the rest.

  Jonathan Swift

  Two, Example, Flattery

  10 Copy quote

• We are so fond on one another because our ailments are the same.

  Jonathan Swift

  Literature, Affection, Ailments

  'Journal to Stella' (published in 'Works', 1768) 1 February 1711

  10 Copy quote

• Good manners is the art of making those people easy with whom we converse. Whoever makes the fewest people uneasy is the best bred in the room.

  Jonathan Swift

  Art, People, Literature

  9 Copy quote

• The common fluency of speech in many men, and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of words; for whosoever is a master of language, and hath a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both.

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Talking, Ideas

  12 Copy quote

• And surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wish, Conversation, Unsaid

  Jonathan Swift (1843). “Works: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers Not Hitherto Published”, p.294

  12 Copy quote

• When I am reading a book, whether wise or silly, it seems to me to be alive and talking to me.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wise, Silly, Book

  Jonathan Swift, David Laing Purves (1871). “The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: Carefully Selected; with a Biography of the Author”, p.520

  35 Copy quote

• Every dog must have his day.

  Jonathan Swift

  Success, Dog, Bad Day

  Jonathan Swift (1860). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: With Copious Notes and Additions, and a Memoir of the Author”, p.513

  17 Copy quote

• The best Maxim I know in this life is, to drink your Coffee when you can, and when you cannot, to be easy without it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Coffee, Life Is, Drink

  Jonathan Swift, John Hawkesworth, Deane Swift (1766). “Letters Written By The Late Jonathan Swift, D. D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin; And Several Of His Friends: From The Year 1703 To 1740”, p.297

  14 Copy quote

• What poet would not grieve to see
  His brother write as well as he?
  But rather than they should excel,
  He'd wish his rivals all in Hell.

  Jonathan Swift

  Brother, Writing, Grieving

  Jonathan Swift (1841). “The Works. Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers, Not Hitherto Published. With Memoir of the Author, by Thomas Roscoe. -London, Washbourne 1841”, p.655

  4 Copy quote

• It is the first rule in oratory that a man must appear such as he would persuade others to be: and that can be accomplished only by the force of his life.

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Oratory, Firsts

  Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter Scott (1824). “The Works of Jonathan Swift: Containing Additional Letters, Tracts, and Poems Not Hitherto Published; with Notes, and a Life of the Author”, p.27

  61 Copy quote

• Two friendships in two breasts requires The same aversions and desires.

  Jonathan Swift

  Friendship, Two, Feelings

  Jonathan Swift, William Broome, Samuel Johnson (1822). “The Poems of Jonathan Swift ...”, p.217

  4 Copy quote

• No man will take counsel, but every man will take money. Therefore, money is better than counsel.

  Jonathan Swift

  Money, Men, Every Man

  Jonathan Swift, David Laing Purves (1871). “The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: Carefully Selected; with a Biography of the Author”, p.520

  6 Copy quote

• May you live all the days of your life.

  Jonathan Swift

  Inspirational, Life, Birthday

  Jonathan Swift (1768). “The works of Dr. Jonathan Swift ...: With the author's life and character; notes, historical, critical, and explanatory; tables of contents, and indexes. More complete than any preceding edition ... Accurately corrected by the best editions”, p.153

  43 Copy quote

• He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

  Jonathan Swift

  Food, Men, Oysters

  1738 Polite Conversation, dialogue 2.

  69 Copy quote

• Cruel people are ever cowards in emergency.

  Jonathan Swift

  People, Coward, Emergencies

  24 Copy quote

• I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning.

  Jonathan Swift

  Good Morning, Good Day, Greatness

  22 Copy quote

• Reasoning will never make a man correct an ill opinion, which by reasoning he never acquired

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Opinion, Ill

  Jonathan Swift (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Jonathan Swift (Illustrated)”, p.1227, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.

  Jonathan Swift

  Nice, Men, Ideas

  'Thoughts on Various Subjects' (1706)

  15 Copy quote

• It often happens that, if a lie be believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no further occasion for it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Work, Lying, Done

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Roscoe (1859). “The works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: with copious notes and additions and a memoir of the author”, p.458

  8 Copy quote

• Vanity is a mark of humility rather than of pride.

  Jonathan Swift

  Humility, Pride, Vanity

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols (1808). “Works”, p.443

  12 Copy quote

• It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind.

  Jonathan Swift

  Justice, Decision, Special

  Jonathan Swift, Dutton Kearney, Joseph Pearce (2010). “Gulliver's Travels”, p.279, Ignatius Press

  16 Copy quote

• I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.

  Jonathan Swift

  Worst, Acquaintance, Company

  'Journal to Stella' (published in 'Works', 1768) 17 May 1711

  4 Copy quote

Page 3 of 18

First

← Prev

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Next →

• facebook
• twitter
• googleplus
• email
• linkedin